Movement of materials and equipment is a significant and important component of any supply and distribution chain. Materials and equipment are routinely required to be transported many times throughout the life cycle of the particular materials and equipment. As such, many transport systems have been developed to help efficiently move items through various different modes of transportation, including transport by road vehicles, rail vehicles, aircraft, and watercraft. One common item in many modes of transport is a pallet that is used to carry equipment and/or materials. Many types of pallets are known, which generally allow for other equipment to efficiently move the pallet. FIG. 1 shows one type of pallet 100, which is commonly used in military operations, known as a 463 L pallet. FIG. 2 shows another type of pallet 200, which is commonly used in transport of commercial and industrial goods. Of course, many other types of pallets and platforms are commonly used and are well known in the art, such as platforms used in commercial passenger and air freight aircraft. The term “pallet” is used herein to refer to any of the various types of material handling pallets or platforms.
Pallets have widespread use in commercial, industrial, and military operations, and one specific type of system is for use in military CH-53 or V-22 aircraft, which will be used as an example throughout this disclosure with the understanding that the concepts and principles apply equally to any of the various other types of pallets and platforms that may be used in material handling. Currently there are two loading configuration options when securing cargo onto a CH-53 or V-22 aircraft. Cargo is treated either as a vehicle or a pallet depending on whether or not it resides on the aircraft cargo floor or rollers. Each loading configuration has a different loading and unloading procedure. For example, equipment that is loaded onto the rollers may be tied down in the cargo bay, and loading wheeled vehicles may require deflating the tires to a pressure that is acceptable for the aircraft floor. When deployed to relatively remote areas, palletized cargo may present difficulties in transport, due to, for example, unimproved terrain. Such situations may be encountered in forward operating base (FOB) operations, and/or in relief operations where delivery of supplies may be needed for humanitarian aid, to name but two examples. In some situations, it would be advantageous to have a system that has an ability to act as a pallet or a vehicle for either cargo loading scenario.